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Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese Terrorist who belonged to the Palestine Liberation Front. He participated in an attack on an Israeli family in 1979, and murdered three Israelis: a 28 year-old man, his 4-year-old daughter, and an Israeli policeman; the man's 2 year-old daughter suffocated as her mother tried to quiet her crying.

On the anniversary of the death of Israels former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, IsraCast brings you a reocrding of Egyptian President Sadat's and Israeli Prime Minister Begin's speech from the signing of the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt in Washington on 1979.

On October 29, 1956 Britain, France and Israel launched a military operation against Egypt. In a swift, sweeping operation of 100 hours, under the leadership of then Chief of the General Staff, Moshe Dayan, the entire Sinai peninsula fell into Israeli hands, at a cost of 231 soldiers killed. This operation was held in response to the closing of the Suez Canal by the Egyptians and terrorist attacks on Israel that violated the armistice agreement between the two countries.

On October 29, 1956 Britain, France and Israel launched a military operation against Egypt. In a swift, sweeping operation of 100 hours, under the leadership of then Chief of the General Staff, Moshe Dayan, the entire Sinai peninsula fell into Israeli hands, at a cost of 231 soldiers killed. This operation was held in response to the closing of the Suez Canal by the Egyptians and terrorist attacks on Israel that violated the armistice agreement between the two countries.

Haim Hefer (29 October 1925 – 18 September 2012) was an Israeli songwriter, poet and writer. A founder of the Palmach's Chizbatron and its chief songwriter, Haim Hefer's lyrics helped forge a national identity in contemporary Hebrew and embodied the spirit of the generation that fought for their nation’s independence.

While the rest of the world was looking for the 'smoking gun' in James Comey's testimony against President Donald Trump in Washington, some intriguing developments were going on in the Middle East. After Trump's recent visit, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf States ganged up on Qatar for its support of Iran, the Muslim Brothers, and Hamas. It triggered a diplomatic and commercial earthquake throughout the region. It stands to reason that the Arab states would not have taken such drastic steps without the green light from the US President. Even though America maintains a big air base with 10,000 troops on Qatar, Trump has accused Qatar of backing Islamist terrorism.

The facts: unlike all the other Sunni Arab states, Qatar is on good terms with Shiite Iran. In addition, it supports the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt against President Al-Sisi while also backing Daesh, Al Qaida and Hamas in Gaza. (The IMF estimates that Qatar is the richest country in the world per capita with an average annual income of $127,000 compared to Israel with $35,000). As for the Jewish state, independent-minded Qatar maintains some informal ties, despite its support for Hamas. But Trump and the Shiite Arab states have concluded that Qatar has gotten too big for its britches, so to speak, and decided to take it down a peg or two. Its capital, Doha, is isolated in the Persian Gulf and will be forced to mend its ways.

In just one week, two signs of the times in a new, emerging Middle East:

1. Russia keeps its word to supply Iran with sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, just dandy for shooting down Israeli jets that may try bombing Iranian nuclear weapons sites in the future.

2. Egypt transfers two strategic islands to Saudi Arabia to solidify their cooperation after U.S. signals they are on their own. Israel signs on to the emerging pact as a silent partner.

The writing has been on the wall for Saudi Arabia and Egypt. By closing the Iranian nuclear deal with the Ayatollahs, U.S. President Barack Obama has signaled to Riyadh and Cairo that they now occupy a lower place on America's Middle East totem pole. So naturally these two leading Sunni Muslim states are closing ranks to face their bitter Shiite enemy, Iran.

Next Monday, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute will hold an event about the Holocaust and the Nakba based on a book titled "The Holocaust and the Nakba: Memory, National Identity, and Jewish-Arab Partnership." I received a lot of angry messages from Holocaust survivors. Where, one of them asks, did they get the nerve to draw a link between the Holocaust and the Nakba? The institute claims they don't mean to draw a comparison, I tried to explain to him. What they mean is that among both nations, these are seminal events that affected their respective identities. The book has articles, I added, that actually emphasize the difference. He wasn't convinced. Truthfully, neither was I.

IsraCast presents a dramatic and historical audio report (with authentic recordings) of how and why Israel acquired the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights (Israel returned Sinai to Egypt as part of the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty of 1979). IsraCast offers this report and recordings to radio stations, educational institutions, and anyone interested in the quest of the Jewish State for independence and self-determination.

In Israel, the Galei Tzahal radio station has reported that al Sisi was willing to contribute 1,600 square kilometers of Sinai to expand Gaza five times its present size. The new territory, together with Gaza, would provide the Palestinians with a Palestinian state under control of the Palestinian Authority, which is headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. On August 6, 2005, the IsraCast website first reported on a land swap proposal for Sinai that was proposed by Prof. Yehoshua Ben Arieh. At that time, IsraCast sponsor, Avi Yaffe even raised the question at a private meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who expressed interest in the idea.

NOV. 29th is one of the most monumental dates in the history of the Jewish people. On this day in 1947, the UN General Assembly approved the Partition Plan for Palestine that was to be implemented after the termination of the British mandate. It called for the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and heralded the rebirth of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland of over three thousand years. Similarly, it granted for the first time a Palestinian state. Designated Resolution 181, it was immediately accepted by the Jews but categorically rejected by the Arabs who later launched an all out war to literally drive the Jews into the Sea! If the Arab states had also accepted the partition there would have been no refugee problem - Palestinian or Jewish. An estimated 650,000 Palestinian refugees fled their homes while at least that number of Jewish refugees were driven out of the neighboring Arab countries. The resolution was carried by a vote of 33 in favor, 13 opposed, 10 abstentions and one member was absent. On the anniversary of that vote, you are invited to listen to this background report by David Essing that includes authentic recordings of the events as they unfolded:

When it comes to understanding Egypt today, U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders really don't get it. They are confusing the outcome of an indecisive election with the reality of the anti-democratic Muslim Brotherhood hijacking the Egyptian Revolution in order to found an Islamist state like Iran. These are some of the key questions that America and the West should be addressing:

Do the Palestinians hate the Jewish state more than they love their dream of a Palestinian homeland? That is the question amid the latest peace effort by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The fact is, the Palestinians could have had their own state years ago, if they were only willing to accept the Jewish state in return.

The 'Arab Spring' erupted against the Jewish state in Cairo where a mob, protesting against the Supreme Military Council in Freedom Square, turned its rage against the Israeli embassy. They smashed through a security wall, recently constructed by the Egyptian authorities, broke into the embassy and threatened the six Israeli guards. The lives of the guards hand in the balance before they were rescued by Egyptian commandos at the last moment. The Egyptian incident came within days of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threat to send his warships to break Israel's legal blockade of Gaza. Analyst David Essing is of the view the two incidents have illustrated the differing approaches by the Egyptian and Turkish leaderships to Israel amid the current chaos in the region.

David Ben Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel. In 1948, he formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Watch videos and listen to interviews of Ben-Gurion, who was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.

Speculation is mounting over just what U.S. President Barack Obama and Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyhau will tell the world when they make their much heralded speeches on the Middle East later this month. IsraCast analyst David Essing is of the view that two recent and dramatic developments will have a major impact on what they have to say - the U.S. targeted killing of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and the recent 'reconciliation ' between Palestinian West Bank President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas that rules Gaza.

Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reacted swiftly to the sudden upheaval in Tunisia and the threat of a new civil war in Lebanon, Israel's northern neighbor, where Hezballah, an Iranian proxy is threatening to take overall control of the state. The shock waves are still reverberating throughout the entire Middle East and are likely to do so for some time to come. Iraq was formerly the epicenter, now Tunisia the quiet state on the Mediterranean that welcomed Israeli tourists, has become a new focus of turmoil. Its tyrannical President Ben Ali was toppled by thousands of citizens who took to the streets ending his regime of twenty three years. Meanwhile 'Lebanon is Lebanon'. The Sunni-Shiite, Christian and Druze ethnic tensions have again escalated after a UN inquiry has found Hezbollah guilty of assassinating former Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Analyst David Essing has this assessment of how the recent developments may affect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's strategic outlook.

In Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reiterated the new Obama administration support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general who has served as head of Israel's National Security Council has called on the Obama administration to its reassess its position. Eiland says the two-state solution is now impossible to implement because of the situation on the ground. IsraCast has previously presented a detailed account of General Eiland's thinking which may have impacted on Prime Minister designate Binyamin Netanyahu's approach to the Palestinian issue.

Israel has been grappling with two questions of life and death - the controversial prisoner exchange with Hezbollah has apparently been resolved while the Iranian nuclear threat looms larger on the horizon. IsraCast sees a connection between these two issues facing the Jewish state in more ways than one.